When Take Achance on Me lost the lead in midstretch of Saturday's $50,000 Hoover Stakes at Laurel Park, his backers couldn't be blamed for wanting to tear up their tickets. The leader down the backstretch, Take Achance on Me was passed first by Dale's Prospect and then Bold Days. But under jockey Jozbin Santana, Take Achance on Me came back in the final furlong of the sprint and edged Dale's Prospect by a neck.

Excellent Band finished third and Bold Days faded to fourth in the field of eight 3-year-olds and up. Shake You Down scratched.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Everything was proceeding according to plan for Steve Asmussen and a 3-year-old colt named Razor, who over the winter had asserted himself as one of the more capable young sprinters in the Midwest.

The Mountain Valley at Oaklawn Park looked like a perfect spot for Razor, but then a monster named Afleet Alex popped into the entry box, and suddenly, the plan didn't look all that swell.

"It was a great idea until Afleet Alex showed up in the Mountain Valley," said Asmussen.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Few fillies have been as flashy as Madcap Escapade has been in her brief career.

And few have improved as much as Souris has.

Next week at Keeneland, where stakes action will resume following the customary two-day break, Madcap Escapade and Souris will clash Wednesday in what figures to be a terrific renewal of the $200,000 Vinery Madison Stakes.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The tone has been set. A frantic three-horse finish amid spectacular spring weather got the Keeneland meet off to a rousing start Friday, when a crowd of 15,811 watched Chattahoochee War nose out Guillaume Tell and Rey de Cafe in the featured Grade 3 .

Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel counted himself happy to be a part of the festivities. Frankel could not take his eyes off a grandstand television monitor in the aftermath of the Transylvania, and after an anxious few minutes, Frankel suddenly threw up his hands and yelled, "Yeah!"

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Two Trail Sioux has been unstoppable in Southern California. She has reeled off four consecutive wins since July, and on Sunday will attempt to add to that streak while moving into stakes company for the first time in her career in the $100,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares comes on Day 2 of this track's annual Racing Festival of the South. Founded in 1974, the festival comprises at least one stakes a day over the final six days of the Oaklawn meet, ending with the $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Elusive Diva returns to favorable conditions Sunday at Santa Anita as a standout in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap. At 6 1/2 furlongs on turf, the layout is familiar to Elusive Diva, who scored an impressive stakes win Jan. 30 over the course before losing badly three weeks later in the mud.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland Racecourse has cut off five simulcasting sites from its pools, track officials said Friday, the opening day of the track's 16-day spring meet.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After chasing Don Six in a pair of stakes over Aqueduct's inner track, Mr. Whitestone should find things a bit easier Sunday, when he heads an eight-horse field in an optional claiming race at six furlongs over the main track.

is one of four horses running under the fourth-level allowance condition of the race; four others are being offered for the $100,000 claiming price.

CALGARY. Alberta - Wartock, a 7-year-old gelding who is 5 for 5 going a half-mile at this course, puts that record on the line in Sunday's featured seventh race for $30,000 claimers.

However, should Wartock's odds not be attractive enough, price players have some angles to look at.

PORTLAND, Ore. - An evenly matched field of eight older fillies and mares, each eligible to be claimed for $6,250 to $5,000, will compete at a mile in Sunday's best race at Portland Meadows.

Run Irene Run might be the favorite off her impressive win March 26, when she defeated $4,000 rivals at a mile. A front-running daughter of He's Tops trained by Delmer Webb, Run Irene Run has won or placed in all six of her mile tries, including two wins, a second, and three thirds at the distance.